PAS: BR1M is people's money, not UMNO's

PAS has reminded UMNO about the origin of the funds for the RM500 cash handouts under the government's 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) programme.

"UMNO should not think that the RM500 under BR1M came from its pocket. Banners have been hung all over villages claiming that this is help from BN and UMNO. Whereas the money belongs to the people through the country's income," said PAS Central Committee member Idris Ahmad .

He was commenting on banners being put up by UMNO in rural areas throughout the country taking credit for the cash handout.

Idris said the money was only now being paid by UMNO after half-a-century of ruling Malaysia, adding that the party was forced to counter Pakatan Rakyat's offers because UMNO was reaching "the end of its 55-year rule".

"So before its fall, let it do its last favour for the people. At least the coming generation will remember that in its 55 years in power, the UMNO-BN government had given RM500," he quipped.

According to Idris, the people in oil-rich Terengganu had also been left abandoned by UMNO until PAS briefly took over the state in the 1999 general elections and launched a campaign for the state's oil royalties.

"Although oil was discovered since the 1970s, but people in Terengganu were only now given RM300 annually following PAS's rule in 1999," he added.

BR1M was mooted in the 2012 Budget to help households with an income of less than RM3000 a month. Under an allocation worth RM2.6 billion, some 5.2 million households should receive the one-time cash aid.

-Harakahdaily